In Tulameen, workers are building gabions, containers filled with gravel, as a temporary dike against rising water in Otter Lake, which has already ignored a stop sign to flood into town. Photo courtesy RDOS

Facebook is now offering people in the affected regions in southern B.C. (Okanagan-Similkameen, Cariboo, Central Okanagan and Thompson-Nicola) the option to let their friends know that they are safe as flooding continues to cause disruptions in multiple communities. The Safety Check Facebook feature is activated if enough people in an affected area post about an incident.

To find the crisis response on your desktop, click the green Crisis Response button on the left side of your homepage. The Safety Check feature is found on the Crisis Response page by selecting the specific crisis you are looking for. You can mark yourself safe through Safety Check on the top of the page.

A number of factors determine if you are in an affected area including; the city you’ve listed in your profile, your current location (if you have given Facebook access to your phone or tablet’s location) or other signals that point to your location (ex. the city where you use the internet).